Method of making knitting-needles



(No Model.) E

. A. B. DODGE.

METHOD OF MAKING KNITTING NEEDLES.

No, 531,023. Patented Dec. 18, 1894.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AVERY B. DODGE, OF ROCHESTER, NEIV YORK.

METHOD OF MAKING KNITTING-NEEDLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,023, dated December 18, 1894.

Application filed November 22,1893. Serial No. 491. 40- (No model.) I

To all whom/ it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AVERY B. DODGE, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a certain new and 5 useful Improved Method of Making Knitting- Needles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

In the manufacture of knitting machine needles considerable difficulty has been experienced in providing means for holding the latches permanently in position without preventing their free operation, and when pivot pins are used that are riveted or upset on the outer sides of the needles, it has been found that by the springing of the side walls of the slots the ends of the pivot pins project from the sides of the needle and serve to catch the yarn when in use, and wear or break it. In some instances the outer ends of the rivet holes are countersunk and the ends of the pivot pins upset in these, but when the sides of the needles are finished or smoothed by grinding, rubbing, or otherwise, as they must be, the heads, notwithstanding the countersinking, are apt to be ground down so that in a very short time the rivet moves longitudinally, sometimes sufficiently far to permit the latch to fall out, and again only far enough to catch on the yarn, but in either event it is a great source of trouble and annoyanceto' the user.

My present invention, therefore, has for its objects to provide an improved needle in which the pivot pin of the latch is securely soldered in place and therefore cannot. move to wear or break the yarn, and also to provide an improved method of making such needles at very slight cost, and to these ends it consists in certain improvements, all as will be hereinafter described and 'the' novel features pointed out in theclaims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a view partly in section of a needle constructed in accordance with 'my invention, and Fig. 2, a crosssectional View of the same.

The body of the needle 1 is constructed in the usual manner with the hook at the end and the slot 2 for the accommodation of the latch 3, the walls at the sides of the slot be-' ing perforated for the accommodation of the pivot pin 4 of the usual latch 3,said latch having an aperture through which the pin 4 passes, slightlylarger than the pin, so as to work freely thereon. The apertures in the walls ofthe needle may be countersunk, as shown, or they may be plain, as desired.

In carrying out my invention, I coat or plate the ordinary steel wire of which the pivot pin 4. is composed with a suitable hard solder or metal, as gold, silver, brass, or other compound metal constituting a hard solder, and capable of melting at a temperature below that of the material of which the needle is composed.

Before assembling the parts, the ends of the needle or the parts adjacent to the holes for the pivot are dipped in or coated with a suitable flux, as borax or other suitable material, which is caused to How through or into the holes for the pivotpin. Then the latch is placed in position and the pivot pin is insorted through the needle and latch, and, if desired, its ends riveted down on the outside; this being designed as a temporary fastening merely, but if the holes are countersunk, it may be a permanent though not the only securing means. The needle with the latch and pivot pin therein is now subjected to sufficient heat to melt the solder on the pin and cause it to flow and secure the pivot tightly in position in the holes in the needle. In order that the needles may be made by this method cheaply and in quantity, the latches are placed in position as above described before the needles are hardened and then they are tied in bunches and heated to the temperature usually employed, say until they assume a cherry-red before they are cooled,

which will .cause the solder to be melted and pin during the hardening operation, but I find in practice that this is not necessary as the quantity of solder on the pivot is so small and the aperture in the latch so large, relatively, that while the suitably tlnxed surfaces in tight contaotwill be soldered the latch and pin will not be secured together.

The wire used for the pivot pin may be coated With the soldering metal by drawing it through a bath of the metal, or it may be applied by electro deposition or otherwise or the small pieces constituting the rivets may be separately coated or plated.

This method of making needles does not necessitate any more operations than those pursued in making the ordinary needles and yet the articles produced are very much superior in that the latch pivots are not liable to come loose and break or wear the yarn, nor are the latches liable to fall outand render the needles worthless.

I am aware that it has been proposed to solder the pivot pins of latches for needles in place by hand, in the ordinary way, but this method of procedure is very expensive, While by the use of a pivot pin plated or coated with a more fusible metal or solder, which is driven in place and soldered during the operation of tempering, or by heating the needle Without tempering it, the operation is very economical being quite as cheap, much more expeditions and productive of a better article than the ordinary needle having the headed pivot pin.

. I claim as my invention- 1. The improved method of securing the latches in knitting needles, which consists in coating the surface of the pivot pin with hard solder, then mounting the latch in the slot of the needle upon such pin and then subjecting the needle to a temperature sulficient to melt said solder, substantially as set forth.

2. The improved method of making latched knitting needles consisting in coating the surface of the pivot pin with hard solder, then mounting the latch in the needle upon such pin, then hardening the needle in the usual Way by heating and cooling it, whereby the pivot pin will be secured and the needle hardened at a single heat, substantially as set forth.

AVERY B. DODGE.

\Vitnesses:

FRED F. Cannon, G. A. RODA. 

